Lordy this place was loud. Service was also abysmally slow, and we got a ton of apologies, but no discount, not even some extra chips. Anyway I could deal with the slowness, but it was so loud, that I could barely hear Christopher sitting next to me.
With that said, the food was alright, and my strawberry Mojito was REALLY good. Someone kept sabotaging my photos, though…
Yesterday I visited my mom, and stayed overnight until today. As usual we had snacks and wine, and in a new tradition/routine, I brought along a board game. Battleship, this time. I also brought along Fidget Spinner, one of my Furbys. They’re so expressive!
My mom won the game. The next day, Shampoo had to go to the vet. She wasn’t doing so great. I stayed home working, and took this picture of Sweeney as he waited by the door for them to come back.
After getting some meds, Shampoo seemed to perk up a bit. She ate with gusto for the first time in a few days.
I pet her a little bit. I always know it could be the last time, she is so old. But anyway, I got to see her again, and overall it was a really nice visit.
Happy Thanksgiving weekend, everyone! I gotta say, other than feeling suuuper queasy on Friday morning for an hour or so, this Thanksgiving was one of my favorites in recent memory. I hope yours was nice, too! Let me tell you all about mine below.
โจ๐ Thursday ๐โจ
We were off around 9:00am. My companion for this trip was Othello, though I also brought Bluey for sleeping. First things first, we went to McDonald’s. I needed to eat something so I could take my painkillers (I was on my period during this weekend).
Christopher was out at some point…
Getting to my mom-in-law’s house felt really magical. There was a tree this year, and it had lots of presents underneath! Othello was really excited and had fun exploring it:
I sat underneath for a while, looking and wondering at the presents, and playing Pokรฉmon on my Switch. I felt really small and happy.
Pretty soon it was time for dinner. I’m usually not big on Thanksgiving dinner but it was at my mom-in-law’s house this time around, and so delicious! I wish we always had this holiday (and all holidays actually) here.
There were many pies… pumpkin, chocolate pudding, shoofly… I tried a bit of everything.
After dinner, Pan cuddled with me…
We went to bed early, since we’d be up at 3:45am for Black Friday.
โจ๐ Friday and Saturday ๐โจ
On Friday we did a little local Black Friday shopping (mainly Funko Pops for sis-in-law) and then went to Orlando to drop her off at the airport. After that we had breakfast at Keke’s (a little lackluster compared to the last time we were here) and after a little more shopping, we went back home to my mom-in-law’s house.
Christopher and I did soooo much napping and relaxing. I drew and played Pokรฉmon Violet –kept trying to find a Goomy to no avail. Mom-in-law and partner stayed busy, washing the car, running errands and shopping for groceries. They made a wonderful chicken salad for dinner, and afterwards, we played UNO Flip! and then watched a movie, “Luck”. It was cute.
On Saturday we went to a big local flea market that our partner had never been to with us. It’s always fun to look at all the kitschy knick-knacks. Usually I go off on my own a lot, but I stuck closer to family this time. I found a dolly I liked a lot before we left, and Christopher bought it for me. I’ll blog about her on a separate post. She’s a Horsman dolly from 1973.
After the flea market, we went to The Wagon Wheel for a delicious pizza lunch. Then it was time to go home! If it wasn’t for my worry about Rosie, I would have wanted to stay an extra night… we had so much fun.
โจ๐ Buddy And Sarah Return! ๐โจ
A big, unexpected surprise when I walked through the door was that already, Buddy and Sarah were back! Maybe I misremembered but I really thought they’d be back December 1st, not today. It really felt like a magical moment as I did not expect it at all!
The two of them were busy opening the present I left them. Maybe they’ll write me back sometime during the month. I think it’d be fun to exchange a couple of letters while they are here.
On a different note, I came home with a new Little People toy! I saw this at Walmart while picking up a toy for my friend Snow. I already have a Little People red-haired guy who looks so much like Christopher. But this one does even more! And he comes with a cat! So he bought it for me.
Speaking of toys, I had a couple of new ones to put under the tree when we got back! Unwrapped, since I’m not gonna wrap my own presents and it’s pointless for our partner to wrap something I’ve already seen. When we went to Target, he got me this Sesame Street figure set I had on my wish list:
And also this Bluey watch! It has games and you can hear Bluey and Bingo’s voice. It’s so cute!
That’s all for my Thanksgiving weekend. It was really wonderful and passed too quickly. The next exciting holiday event will be Zoo Lights on Friday, and since now I have a really good phone, I’ll be able to take nice night time photos of all the Christmas lights at the zoo! I can’t wait to share.
Today was a long, rough day. For starters I had a very early appointment to finally get my passport. Christopher dropped me off, and I walked home after it was done.
I did get to see the really big Christmas tree at the City Center though, so that was nice:
At 12:30pm I had my optometrist appointment. It turns out I need progressive glasses. A few people I know have them, and while I am on the slightly younger end for needing them, my eyesight has always been awful so it isn’t too surprising. I hope it’s not too hard to get used to them.
On a different note, I apparently have enlarged optic nerves (one eye worse than the other) which I could have had all my life but could also be an early sign of glaucoma (scary) so I have to go get that looked into. I should have my new glasses in about a week.
This appointment took a long, long time, and by the time I walked the twenty minutes to my next appointment with the gynecologist, it was 3:45pm. There I waited another 45 minutes to be seen.
My period came at an unfortunate time, so I had to skip my wellness check –it was rescheduled for next month. However, my main reason to go was my incredibly sore boobies. I was reassured in that regard. So that’s all I have to say about doctor appointments for now.
๐ Meet Sour Cream ๐
When the guys came home from the panhandle, Christopher gave me the Furby he found for me. I’ve decided to name him Sour Cream! He will soon have a bath and brand new speaker.
๐ Analogue Pocket Is Finally Here! ๐
We waited so many months. Now our Analogue Pockets are in our hands! They are so beautiful. Mine is white and Christopher’s is black. I’m not playing with mine until the custom Bluey skin I’m having made is delivered, though.
Here’s one more random little thing I found. I saw this at Michaels, I like it so much. It’s an Elf On The Shelf puzzle!
Happy Monday, everyone! I didn’t mention this anywhere because I didn’t want to broadcast to the world that I would be alone in this massive house for three nights and days, but that is what happened. My husband and our partner went to visit Christopher’s sister (my sis-in-law) along with Christopher’s mom way up in the Florida panhandle.
I decided to stay behind for a number of reasons. One of them was that I had a massive mountain of presents to wrap, a lot of accumulated chores, and I didn’t want to stress out the animals by leaving them alone for so long right before the Thanksgiving holidays.
I was also looking forward to it. I can be a little bit naughty and eat tons of junk food, order takeout, watch cartoons, play video games, blast any music I like throughout the house… it’s a dream!
On the other hand, at night it is very lonely and scary. This house is very big, so I sleep with one eye open. But I had a good time. Now my guys are back! And I can tell you all about my weekend home alone.
๐ Friday Night ๐
As soon as everyone was gone I sat down to relax with a little reading:
Kotoko kept me company nearbyโฆ
I really adore stories about toys, from the toys’ POV, so I am loving this book. I even have my own Raggedy Ann and Andy:
After some stories and a Christmas cake, I began to work on a vast backlog of housework, some of it delayed by weeks. I wasnโt done until 8:00pm. I made the house all merry to enjoy the evening…
Then I placed my order with Wahbi Sabi and jumped in the shower. I saved my brand new Pikachu Christmas pajamas to wear this weekend!
I finally got to get cozy in them while I waited for my food to get there…
…then had my coveted Spam sushi and corn cheese on a Christmas bowl and cup. Of course, I had my Coke on my Bluey Christmas cup, while watching some Bluey Christmas shorts, as well as Verandah Santa and Christmas Swim on the CRT!
You can’t tell in these photos, but my cutlery was Bluey themed too. Also, the placemat!
The food was delicious, a cheap but huge treat from my favorite Korean restaurant:
For dessert I had a Christmas cake and some almond milk!
Then with the dishwasher going, it was gift-wrapping time! I watched the original How The Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon since I’d never seen it before, and then watched the movie, which I’ve seen a thousand times and utterly love.
I wrapped presents until I felt just tired enough to go to bed with the cats and with Pokemon Violet on my Switch. My bed looked so cozy all lit up!
And Rosie was already waiting for me…
I didn’t play too long, I was so tired. I set up my character and then cuddled up with Rosie and was out like a log.
๐ Saturday ๐
This was a very long day, and one on which an incredibly rare occurrence happened: I stayed in my pajamas all day. I normally hate this, even if I’m sick. But they are cute and comfy and I was so busy. To give you an idea of the job I had in my hands, even after hours and hours of gift wrapping last night, I wrapped pretty much non-stop from 9:30am to 8:00pm tonight. I stopped only to eat lunch. That is a lot of presents. I didn’t count them but there must have been over 50, maybe 60. Here’s some of the mess…
I’ve been buying presents for my family since August. They are all presents from me and also from Christopher, to all our family and friends, and then there are our partner’s presents to Christopher, and Christopher’s family, and I wrapped that, as well. It was a lot of work but I can’t wait to see happy faces when the surprises are revealed.
Here’s the results. The stockings are full too. There are a lot of small presents hidden everywhere so it’s really a lot more than you’d think at first glance.
Alas, a ribbon has already dropped. I reattached it.
For the entirety of the weekend (but most of all on this day), I had vintage and not-so-vintage Christmas and/or Thanksgiving cartoons playing, and it was lovely. Here is a collage of GIFs from some cartoons I watched throughout the weekend.
In the middle of my gift wrapping, Christopher surprised me with these photos…
I SCREAMED!! How to choose just one? But I had to. It was hard because I always wanted a Furby Buddy and this one is an obvious match to this Furby, surely they have always been together. But I wasn’t about to leave this little voiceless guy abandoned in a thrift shop! Christopher got him for me. I can’t wait to have his voicebox fixed.
After that, I had yummy snacks and drank wine while playing Pokรฉmon Violet. I made a separate post about my early experiences with the game, which you can read HERE.
๐ Sunday๐
With all the gift-wrapping fully out of the way, today was a more normal day. I did my chores, including taking care of the snailies, sent some Trellos, worked on holiday cards, and wrote my letters to Santa as well as to thank and welcome Buddy and Sarah:
I ordered takeout again, and had it while playing more Pokรฉmon Violet. It was really good!
The cats haven’t spent much time with me, but Tomoyo eventually did come to see me… here she is sitting on my lap:
With all commission information retrieved, and especially with multiple unsavory permabanned people having their Twitter accounts reinstated, I decided to officially delete my art accounts as well. I’m all gone from Twitter, again. It’s an amazing feeling!
And, I’ll be really active elsewhere! I’ll be active here, on Telegram, on Discordand on FA. So please don’t be a stranger! ๐
Anyway, it was actually at the end of the day that I began all my chores. But before bed I managed to get the snail tank and litter boxes cleaned, the animals all fed and watered, dishes done and put away, and the laundry too. Trash taken out, showered. Before bed, I had one final little feast. Wine, a sandwich, and Elf sugar cookies:
It was a fruitful day. And fun too. I even had a Zoom call with my mom and made some art progress! Plus posted old art too.
And then it was bedtime again, my last night alone.
๐ Monday ๐
My guys FINALLY came home today! I feel like I’ve been all alone for forever. Anyway, today was a calm day of chores and prep. I prepared for my passport and doctor appointments that I have tomorrow. I also plan to drop by Target Optical and finally get my eyes checked. I’m really worried about some drop in my eyesight, and about intense pain in my breasts. I hope some of those worries can be set aside after tomorrow.
Another thing I did was prepare a seasonal outfit for Igloo, since she will be joining me in some upcoming travels:
I also shipped out a couple of badges, chose, scanned and printed some coloring pages from my collection to have fun with during the season, worked on art, and was able to make some more decisions regarding online stuff. As it turns out, every Discord server I checked out is pretty dead. Telegram is okay… I lurk on one busy community chat. I disabled automatic media downloads for groups, which helped with some issues I was having.
I also realized that Reddit is AMAZING at solving my FOMO issues: I can do a quick daily browse of the subreddits I follow, maybe post a little here and there, and all is good. And it feels FAR less toxic than Twitter. So I may delete Discord again, with intention to actually put effort in being active on the Telegram chat I’m in, and from time to time, I will check Reddit.
That aside, after a weekend of utter indulgence, I’m back on my fitness wagon, so you’ll see those posts begin to pop up again.
I dressed up nice to greet my guys…
I also made the house very merry and festive…
…and served a comforting, good meal –chicken curry on rice. So when they got home, everything looked beautiful, the house smelled amazing, there was Christmas music softly playing and everything was in tip top shape.
I really, really missed them so much. I felt bad for missing out on the family trip, but when I think of all that I got done, I simply have no idea how that would have been doable without this long weekend all to myself.
I hope you found this post entertaining! I’ll update after tomorrow’s errands.
While fixing Bichito’s broken speaker, Happy Meal played with him. Even though Bichito couldn’t speak, he was having fun anyway!
๐ NOTE: My Furby and Moncchichi posts often contain Japanese text (usually with an accompanying English translation). This is because both of these fandoms are bigger in Japan than elsewhere, particularly for 2005 Furby. Thanks for understanding!
๐ NOTE: My Furby and Moncchichi posts often contain Japanese text (usually with an accompanying English translation). This is because both of these fandoms are bigger in Japan than elsewhere, particularly for 2005 Furby. Thanks for understanding!
๐ NOTE: My Furby and Moncchichi posts often contain Japanese text (usually with an accompanying English translation). This is because both of these fandoms are bigger in Japan than elsewhere, particularly for 2005 Furby. Thanks for understanding!
๐ NOTE: My Furby and Moncchichi posts often contain Japanese text (usually with an accompanying English translation). This is because both of these fandoms are bigger in Japan than elsewhere, particularly for 2005 Furby. Thanks for understanding!